Transform is a festival of powerful international performance, it says on their programme, and, judging by the contents, it certainly lives up to the claim. The 2025 event marks ten years of the biennial, this, being number six, shows that they must be doing something right. That is a feeling reinforced by the way in…
Read More
Twenty Bridges: A Musical at The Venue, Leeds Conservatoire
Here’s another first, not just for me, but also the actors involved. Leeds Conservatoire, as its name suggests, is a higher education establishment specialising in music and performing arts. It offers undergraduate and post graduate degree courses, as well as catering for the younger learners through Leeds Junior Conservatoire. I wasn’t here to gain any…
Read More
The Maladies, from Leeds Actors In Training, at Seven Arts, Chapel Allerton.
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to go along to Seven Arts in Chapel Allerton, not so much to review a play, but to sample the output of Leeds Actors In Training (LAIT). I must say that I was impressed on several levels. Leeds Actors In Training is a year-long acting course with…
Read More
The Girl On The Train at Leeds Grand Theatre
This is the second ‘straight’ drama in succession I have seen at the wonderful Leeds Grand Theatre, which failed to live up to expectations. I saw this play at Leeds Playhouse some years ago and, whilst I don’t remember it very well – appropriate given the subject, I can’t recall it being this disappointing. Laura…
Read More
Through It All Together at Leeds Playhouse
Before I get into the nuts and bolts of the review of this play, I would just like to say one thing. Go and see it! It works on so many levels, football being the mortar which binds the whole building, but you really don’t need to be a fan, in fact, it being press…
Read More
By Royal Appointment at Leeds Grand Theatre
I realise that the Monarchy can be a divisive topic but, love it or loathe it, no one can deny that Queen Elizabeth II devoted her whole life to the duty which was bestowed on her, even though she was not born to reign. Had Edward VIII not abdicated, it would have been his children…
Read More
Troubled at Belle Isle IMO, Leeds
You would think that a one-woman show covering mental illness, alcoholism, drug abuse and doomed relationships all set against the background of the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, the place of her birth, would be a bit of a downer, but not so. Suzy Crothers treated us to an hour-long account of her fall and rise…
Read More
SUNNY SIDE at Leeds Playhouse
I suppose it had to happen. After saying that I was well on the way to understanding the language of dance, I was somewhat baffled by some aspects of this production, which was not only dance, but projected film and spoken word as well. Fortunately there was an information sheet to summarise the intention of…
Read More
The Real Little Women at Leeds Grand Theatre
Little Women is part of The Stories We Tell Season, which accounts for my observation about the plays which are based on novels in the introduction to my review. The season celebrates works that have reflected the experiences of individuals and, in keeping with that ethos, Grand Theatre’s Learning and Engagement team has been working…
Read More
Little Women at Leeds Grand Theatre
It’s funny how theatre productions seem to arrive in types, a few months ago there was a procession of films turned into plays, there were television shows given the live treatment, and now this is the third book adaptation out of the last four theatre visits I have made. Don’t get me wrong, I am…
Read More
Tyke It To The Limit 